. >> businesses of much more focused on washington, on the whole policy issues around the fiscal cliff because they are trying to figure out their spending plans guessing what taxes will be. businesses are focused on if they spend x and taxed at y what's that going to leave them in terms of profitability. degree of which businesses have come off a really good four years where the rest of us have come off a more problematic four years. finally in this quarter partly because of the fiscal cliff, partly because of europe, partly because of slow down in china profits are more challenging for companies. but they are still making a lot of money. >> "wall street journal" study of 40 major companies half plan drastic cuts to their investments and spending into next. once a budget deal is reached, i mean whatever it is, do you think we'll see companies loosen their wallet? is there a bigger chance they will slow down more? >> part of this is contingent how well consumers do. companies will spend money if there's this active healthy consumer base that justifies them spending money for more activ